As the art moves towards higher power integrated circuits and components, hereinafter referred to as heat emitting components, heat transfer from the heat emitting components becomes increasingly difficult and more important. One conventional technique used to remove heat from a heat emitting component was to employ a finned heat sink which was placed in thermal contact with the heat emitting component. In this manner, heat generated by the heat emitting component was conducted to the heat sink and then dissipated to the ambient environment.
FIG. 1 is a front plan view of a heat sink structure 10 in accordance with the prior art. Heat sink structure 10 included a finned heat sink 12 in thermal contact with a heat emitting component 14. During use, heat emitting component 14 generated heat. This heat was conducted to heat sink 12, which dissipated this heat to the ambient environment.
To provide the greatest flexibility in the use of heat sink 12, fins 16 of heat sink 12 were made relatively short. In this manner, heat sink 12 could be used in a variety of different computer systems having a variety of different spacings between the cabinet and a printed circuit board 20, to which heat emitting component 14 was attached. To illustrate, by forming relatively short fins 16, heat sink 12 could be used with a cabinet 18 (indicated in dashed lines), which was spaced relatively close to printed circuit board 20. Further, heat sink 12 could be readily used with a cabinet 22, which was space relatively far from printed circuit board 20.
When used with cabinet 18, heat sink 12 was relatively effective at dissipating heat from heat emitting component 14. In particular, air was forced to flow between fins 16 due to the relatively small spacing between printed circuit board 20 and cabinet 18.
However, when used with cabinet 22, heat sink 12 was relatively ineffective at dissipating heat from heat emitting component 14. In particular, since air follows a path of least resistance, the air had a tendency to flow between heat sink 12 and cabinet 22 instead of between fins 16.
To provide adequate cooling of heat emitting component 14 when used with cabinet 22, heat sink 12 could be replaced with another heat sink having longer fins. Disadvantageously, since the spacing between cabinet 22 and printed circuit board 20 varied depending upon the particular manufacturer, a large number of different heat sinks had to be stocked to accommodate the different manufacturer specifications. To avoid the complexity and cost associated with stocking a large number of different heat sinks, heat sink 12 having relatively short fins 16 was used for all manufacturers regardless of the spacing between cabinet 22 and printed circuit board 20.
To enhance heat dissipation from heat sink 12 when the spacing between cabinet 22 and printed circuit board 20 was relatively large, additional and/or more powerful fans were used. However, to avoid excess power consumption and to avoid exceeding noise level limits, the size of these additional and/or more powerful fans was severely restricted.
Accordingly, the art needs a method of enhancing heat transfer from a heat emitting component using a heat sink having relatively short fins without having to providing additional and/or more powerful fans.